Esplanade Es Crazy - The Price of Sunny Spring Weather

{R.I.P. Wouter Weylandt}

I did not watch any of the Giro D'Italia yesterday, so I was totally unaware of the tragic accident until a coworker friend asked if I had heard. Wow, how sad. After watching the tribute stage I am touched by the support of so, so many people and the closeness of these elite athletes. I reminisce of my past riding days with a close group of friends and the support we had for each other, the support I received - whether riding well or absolutely bonking. No one left behind, friendship first.



This morning was cloudy and cool, my hypersensitivity, again, thought I felt a rain drop or two. Probably because I decided not to wear the rain jacket or pants. Fortunately, I stayed dry and enjoyed a nice ride in. The closer I got to downtown, the more people I saw. I slowed and stopped a few times along the Eastbank Esplanade because I saw the two barges heading down river and eventually saw the Steel Bridge's center span go up - well no sense hurrying just to wait.

Work had some fun moments as I have been helping with our Bike to Work planning for the week of the 16th to 20th. That's been fun, focusing on cycling. The sad news is the waffle breakfast for Bike to Work Day, the 20th, will end just before I get there after riding with Evan in the morning. A few promised to save me some food.

Wow, just like the weather folks said, the afternoon was super clear, sunny and warm. Rather than rushing on home I slowed down and watched and absorbed all the activity going on. Whooosh! Wow, there are certainly people out who don't quite get the concept of sharing - how about slowing down when there are lot's of people walking, biking in the same 5 foot area. That is not say everyone was like that, but, then again, it only takes a few.

I still believe my theory that there are some converted individuals to biking/healthiness that have, unfortunately, brought their "me" world concept from the car world - spreading out across over half the path width, zipping in and out unpredictably, unyielding so they can pass first - sound familiar?

Despite the invasion of the less fun people, I am enjoying seeing many others - like the dad riding with his kids, helping them out, building up their riding skills. Hopefully they are also learning courtesies, as well.

Parting shot. I stopped and enjoyed the view from a bench area, and to also make a slight adjustment to one of my cleats before heading on and away from the esplanade. SUB is lovin' this nice weather, too. We'll soak it all up today - tomorrow we return to the chance of showers type weather.

Old School = New Bars, Plus New Tires

Have really gotten into the rhythm of commuting now, even in the rainy weather there is no thoughts of if, just what am I going to have to wear or bring. Must be spring as we are having a few more dry days and rides, though we do continue to have those wet days, too.

The sunny mornings, especially, are such a nice treat.

Around the water front there are definitely changes going on, as well. Way more cyclists, artists and meandering people. Huge lines form at the many food carts placed around downtown. Outside of the heads down, no slowing down speedster cyclists and the 3 abreast stroller pushers I really enjoy slowing down along the waterfront area and watching and taking it all in.

The bike room at work was overfull a couple times this week, must be the nice weather. I've been working with our facilities team to locate a secure overflow area. We happened to have a old, unused storage area in our parking garage, so we have a bike rack coming (the one in the picture is no good). To keep my life simple, I've decided to use the overflow as my standard storage location. See, my bike has a nice window view, too.

I decided that riding in the drops of my ergo style handlebars was not working out, so I began a search for some old school drop bars. Ideally, I looked for the same brand and model as my road bike as I know those fit and work well for me. Being the Nitto Model 185 is a product of the late 80's and early 90's, my search was not turning up a lot. There are certainly a many newer models, but I'm stubborn. Finally, I found one online store in Japan that carried a version of the Model 185 in 40cm (many other bars seemed to start at 42cm, which is too wide for me). Done.

Loving the Continental SportContact 1.6" tires so much, I wondered if I could find a narrower set, since Continental's site listed a 1.3" tire. Must be relatively new as when I first bought mine, the 1.6" was the only size available. Well picked up a set of 1.3" tires and put them on. Discovered that not only are these narrower, they are also shorter, so there was a huge, dork gap between my fenders and tires. Fortunately, I still had the full fenders that use to be on Evan's road bike (he wanted me to switch his to RaceBlade fenders).

Well, a few hours of trial fitting, adjusting, making new brackets the SUB  has well fitting fenders to compliment the new skinny tires. Looking forward to some fast riding now.

Wow! Finally a Real Spring Day!

Little did I know that the dry, though foggy morning was a transition to ending the week with an amazingly nice spring weather day. Evan and my ride, on Thursday, started out cold - mid 30's - and foggy. Near work, the temp was still cold, but light was trying to break through. After parting ways at his school, I settled into my easy pace and cruised on in to work.

In some ways, I often feel disappointed that I have arrived at work, I just enjoy riding in the morning, the reason I would discover the next ride home from work (Friday).

By the afternoon when I left to meet up with Evan the weather was pretty darn nice. Certainly more people were out, quite a few had cameras and cameras and tripods.

I decided to stop before crossing the Steel Bridge and take a picture of the cherry blossoms along Waterfront Park, that lead to the Japanese Memorial. I probably could have stayed and just enjoyed the scene, but I did have someone expecting me.

Friday

Wow, what a beautiful morning to ride! Even being cold, again, in the mid-30's Evan and I savored the ride. Just standing in the driveway enjoying the clear, sunny air was such a peaceful treat.

Wah, do I really have to go into work? Evan led us on to school, though we did chat along one of the neighborhood sections, side-by-side. Definitely one of those days where I could have just ridden around and explored. Once we parted and I headed the rest of the way into downtown, I did see more cyclists, yep, people are definitely waking from the winter hibernation. The frustrating part is that many seem to bring their "in their own world, oblivious to anyone else around them" idea and did not seem to get that they are not the only ones out and about on the multi-use paths (MUPs). Braking, slowing, weaving, near-crawling so as not to startle, or worse, crash - okay, so I found something not so enjoyable about this awesome weather.

The commute home started with me stopping along the floating section of the Eastbank Esplanade to take a few pictures and enjoy this seemingly real first day of Spring. The clouds were cool. Did I mention it was warm?

OMG! The further along I rode the more "argh!" moments I had. So many people, walking,jogging, biking, spreading out across the full width of the paths - "really? Can you not be even a little aware there are other people out using the paths?"

I obviously am way spoiled at usually not seeing hardly anyone out using "my" paths, I guess I need to learn to share - lol. Fortunately, the challenge is primarily contained to the esplanade, so for that distance I can deal with the frustrations and share the space - haha. My sweet revenge, or satisfaction came shortly as I left the esplanade MUP.

I've written about this section along SE Clay St. so I finally decided to take a picture. Way up there at the far signal light is MLK, Jr. Blvd. Shortly after I took this picture this intersection's light turned green. I enjoyed the ride, up past all the traffic, proceeding directly to MLK. The really fun thing is that the light stayed red until I just got up there and then it was green and off I went.

So far, my Harrison/Lincoln route isn't too crowded, yet, so I only see a few cyclists, still. The solo riding along this much more peaceful route allows me to flush the traffic thoughts and I then focused on the sunny day, spring blossoms, watching people became a fun thing rather than an evasive, defensive riding thing. My legs found their rhythm, my feet spun in their 170mm circles and my mind set the beat for my pace and I rolled along. Yep, that's what it is all about - just enough effort to keep building up strength, just enough easing off to stay in that "oh, yeah" just right zone.

How long did it take to get to work? To Home? eh, who cares.

Spring? More Like Sprinter -- Pausing to Be Where I Am

I guess the commuting was mostly pleasant, at least I stayed dry and the heavier rain fell in between me being on the bike. The weather is certainly having its own with everyone - snow in the mid-west and east, warm temps south. Here it is really more like Sprinter - wanna be Spring with some bits of lingering Winter. The morning was cooler, but at least it was dry. The scullers are now out in the early mornings getting their training in. These folks were just getting off the water as I was riding past along the esplanade. Just like the waking grasses and the trees trying to re-awake after a long winter, even the people life is blooming, venturing out after a long winter of more hibernatory existence.

Through all the grey concrete, the grey clouds, the cold, dark of the Willamettte, in contrast to the mostly black lycra runners, the cherry blossoms pop out across the way along the Waterfront Park adding life to the otherwise monochromatic scene. Lately, I think on wishing the commute was just a little bit longer, to have more riding time to endlessly wander and enjoy.

This afternoon I could not really figure out what the weather was going to do, bright and dry, dark and rainy. I decided on taking a half chance and wore just the rain pants and my fleece jacket. Of course as I left I heard the alarm of the Steel Bridge and rode up in time to wait as the center section was being raised. I looked around but did not immediately see what was coming, in either direction. The light was a bit interesting, especially as it varied the reflectiveness of downtown buildings.

Shortly, I saw what was moving along the river, a classic looking fire boat. That was pretty cool and, again, really stood out against the otherwise grey landscape. While not a super tall boat, it gives you the idea of how much water there is on the Willamette. Only by moving more slowly than a car, by being a part of the scene have I noticed the "little" details happening, the details that have probably been happening all along. Gosh, how much have I missed all these years?

I guess it is much like when Evan was born. I made a conscious decision to make our time the priority, to put the adult world second when it was our time. He taught me well to see what we as adults see as ho hum as special, as worth pausing just to watch, to really watch and be amazed. I wonder if the cyclists riding past, as they appear to be mono-focused on getting to their destination are in their own way like the drivers who become blindered to the little things going on around them. I wonder if they think I am some kind of tourist or strange newbie, stopping to take all these pictures. Will I become one of the members of the zombie commuting world, regardless of transportation mode, shutting out or becoming apathetic to whatever is around and near to me?

Since I cannot see the future, I might as well embrace the moments, the pauses that always show me something new, something unique to that moment and time.

2 Great Spring Days to Finish the Week

Thursday's ride in was so different, the temperature was pleasant and the clouds weren't too bad. The morning ride would be much longer as I was heading to my eye doctor down near the Burlingame Fred Meyer. After leaving Evan at school, I headed on my normal route to work. Instead of crossing the Steel Bridge, I headed south down the Eastbank Esplanade. Along the way, I stopped to take some pictures. I loved watching the birds sitting on the log in the river.

After a bit of that, I continued on my way. I rode down to the Hawthorne Bridge and crossed the Willamette River there. From there, I rode down to Waterfront Park and headed up to 1st Ave. I took 1st. Ave to catch Barbur Blvd. Climbing Barbur was so different this time compared to back in November 2010 when I rode there to get to work in Lake Oswego. Much, much easier going even for the road bike. Loved the downhill coming back from the eye doctor's, I was down to work in no time it seemed.

Evan and my ride in the afternoon was nice as it was warm, though the southerly wind was blowing pretty good. Riding in this weather is such a treat given all the wet and cooler rides we have done this year, I thoroughly enjoyed my 25 mile day.

Friday, 01 Apr 2011

Today's ride in was so, so nice. Comfortably warm, no wind to speak of, and bits of sun! Check out how much blue sky there was this morning in the picture above! What more could one ask for? There were whole loads of people out this morning, way, way tons of bicyclists. I could have just rode around, but there is that work thing I am obligated to. My base miles now have me riding very comfortably on my routes. Today after work I actually did my old practice of picking a gear combination and doing all the riding in it. With my current set up, my mid-gear of 38 x 17 seems to be a great all purpose, around town combination, so that is what I used. That was fun and brought back some great memories of riding past.

The nice weather brought many more commuters at work, too. Today was the most bikes I have seen so far, 12. Three more and we would have had some storage issues, in terms of no more rack space. Will see how things go when we get some even nicer weather on a more regular basis.